1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to surface cleaning equipment, and more particularly to a low profile side squeegee assembly for surface cleaning equipment.
2. Background
Surface maintenance vehicles and cleaning devices have a long history subject to gradual innovation and improvement toward improved and oftentimes automated performance in removing debris and contamination from floors. These vehicles and devices may be self-powered, towed, or pushed, and/or manually powered and may carry a human operator during cleaning operations. Such vehicles and devices include scrubbers, extractors, sweepers and vacuums, as well as combinations thereof, intended for cleaning, scrubbing, wiping and/or drying a portion of a substantially flat surface both indoors and outdoors. Many such vehicles and devices employ a combination of squeegee assemblies for wiping dry a floor which has been cleaned by application of a cleaning solution of water and a detergent in conjunction with scrubbing action of one or more moving brushes. The squeegee assemblies are generally placed in various locations on the vehicle, including the rear and the sides.
The vertical profile of the side squeegee assembly generally limits how close the vehicle can get to walls and other objects. Particularly troublesome are so-called “toe kicks”, which are typically present in where cabinetry or the like does not touch the floor, but has a recessed area to partially accommodate a persons foot (allowing one to stand close to the cabinet). They are also found in supermarkets to prevent damage from shopping carts to displays and freezer doors. A toe kick may have a vertical clearance beneath it of perhaps 100 mm, and the recess may extend from the wall by perhaps 100 mm. Generally, a surface maintenance vehicle is unable to clean under the toe kicks, requiring that floor underneath the toe kicks be swept and mopped manually by hand. In a large grocery store or warehouse, the additional cleaning step required by the toe kicks can be inconvenient, time-consuming and expensive.
The difficulty in accommodating toe kicks stems in part from the manner in which the side squeegee assembly is supported. Generally, the side squeegees are held in place by a four-bar suspension, which is usually mounted directly above the center of the squeegee blade. The suspension is typically spring-loaded using tension springs, and ensures that the squeegee blade maintains proper contact with the floor as the vehicle travels over any irregularities in the floor. In addition, the squeegee suspension ensures that the squeegee blade is also maintained in the proper angular orientation with respect to the floor, in order to optimize the effectiveness of the squeegee. Further, the squeegee suspension should be self-adjusting, to accommodate pad and brush wear.
Although an obvious modification might be to move the four-bar suspension from directly above the center of the squeegee blade, away from the sides and toward the center of the vehicle, leaving the squeegee blade protruding out the sides of the vehicle, it turns out to be ineffective, and a modified four-bar suspension performs poorly.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a side squeegee suspension with a limited height total, with a low profile extending out to a minimum distance, which conforms to different brush heights and pad thicknesses, which self-adjusts to accommodate pad and brush wear, which is protected from obstacles, which has a minimum gap between the squeegee blade assembly and the pad or brush, and which contains substantially all the cleaning solution within the range of straight forward travel to a 90-degree turn.